The Giants have acquired utilityman Connor Joe from the Reds, per a club announcement. Righty Jordan Johnson and cash considerations are headed to Cincinnati in return. To open a 40-man roster spot, the Giants designated outfielder Drew Ferguson for assignment.
Both Joe and Ferguson were selected in last December’s Rule 5 draft. The former went to the Reds from the Dodgers, while the latter came from the Astros organization. Ferguson would be offered back to Houston if he clears waivers, but every other team in baseball will have a chance to step into his Rule 5 rights.
With a deal coming together at this late stage of camp, it seems likely that Joe has the inside track on a job in San Francisco — perhaps bumping out veteran Pablo Sandoval. New president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi is amply familiar with the former Dodger farmhand, having just come over from the L.A. organization. If Joe can make and stay on the MLB roster all year, his rights would move permanently.
Joe, 26, is a former first-round pick who had largely struggled until a breakout 2018 season. In 435 plate appearances in the upper minors, he turned in a robust .299/.408/.527 slash with a career-high 17 home runs and sixty walks to go with 88 strikeouts.
Ferguson is also 26 years of age. The former 19th-rounder put himself on the map with some strong offensive showings, including a .305/.436/.429 run in 292 Triple-A plate appearances last year. But he has struggled since in short stints in the Arizona Fall League, Puerto Rican Winter League, and Cactus League.
On the Cincinnati end of this swap, Johnson will give the organization another upper-minors arm to work with. He earned a call-up to the highest level of the minors after 15 solid starts at Double-A last year, but struggled thereafter. In 58 frames over 11 outings at Triple-A, Johnson managed only a 4.66 ERA with 37 strikeouts against 33 walks.
And a lil more info…”Joe Ferguson” played for both LAD and HOU.
Joe Connor played for the St Louie Browns. Now I finally understand why St. Louis went from turd on a stick to bird on a stick. Still don’t know why they’re Satan’s team …
Browns and Cards existed at the same time.
The Browns moved to Baltimore.
What now?
Your question is vague?
I was wondering what happened to Connor Joe. He was traded for Sean Rodriguez at one point.
Rip drew Ferguson
No ordinary Joe. We hardly knew ya. Best of luck in your new digs.
Pretty solid season last year from C. Joe.
This guy might make it on the active roster. SF. . . Farhan knows him. Might work. Better than Joyce I think at this stage of His career. . .
In a league with 30 teams, a player picked after #30 should not be referred to as a first round pick.
That’s why they call them
1st round supplemental
picks…..
But yet Joe was referred to as a former first round pick.
Please get rid of Pablo Sandoval. Good pick up for the Giants. I like his ops he put up last season in upper minors. Definitely see potential here.
Try to Pass Pablo through Waivers then possibly Resign him to a Minor League Contact
“Turne Din”…… Sounds like a golf club in Scotland.
Goodbye Pablo
Pablo 2.0 wasn’t the same
The Giants need to stay healthy if they plan on cracking 2nd or 3rd in their division.. Longoria/Crawford/Posey looks to be on the decline. Crawford blames his poor offensive 2018 on a nagging injury, but that is a bunch of dog feces. So far this spring he looks like he did last year. I can see solarte playing a good bit of time in IF this year. Mac Williamson needs to prove himself, this is his final shot! After May if his numbers aren’t looking good, plan on seeing slater or Connor Joe taking his spot.
Gints have a chance to be historically bad this season. Don’t blow it!
That’s what they say about your sex life.
After March, you’ll have have a new login ID because of your continued decline. Your expertise in Baseball Scouting in none existant. You will back at McDonalds.
Crawford has always been a defense-first SS, which is perfectly fine. I don’t know why anyone would ever expect him to carry the offense. Besides, his offensive numbers are on par with his career average, so not sure how you’re talking about any decline.
2018: .254/.325/.394
Career: .252/.318/.395
What really interests me is how well Duggar, Panik, Belt and Longoria have been hitting this spring, and they’ve all been doing very well so far.
I see Williamson has a RH version of Belt (minus the GG). He started off hot last year but got hurt. Story of his career much like Belt. If either of those two can stay healthy, I would not be surprised to see some good stats for both BA and HR from them. Belt needs to keep his head out of the way of the ball. I still say Belt should be moved to an AL team with a short RF porch where he would hit 40 dingers. Maybe next year when Posey moves to 1B. for the majority of his playing time.
Duggar is intriguing. I am optimistic that he will do well in CF. Parra might surprise though I suspect he might fade mid season giving CJo an opening. (CJo, I like it!).
Belt has shown months of solid play before being cut down by injuries. Williamson has shown maybe a week of solid play in all of his stints in the majors. Classic AAAA player unfortunately.
Giants fan will be so apathetic this year. The anger has subsided and now they just don’t care anymore (as an owner, that’s likely the worst position you want to see your fans).
Are we really supposed to believe the rhetoric coming from the FO about being a contender this year? No knock on Connor Joe (he’s 1000x better than I’ll ever be) but this isn’t the “corner outfield priority” Giants fans were promised when the new GM took over. Aside from some “depth”, we’ve already seen what this team can do…lose 90+ games. Only difference is, they’re a year older. I suppose it would just be refreshing if the FO could tell us the truth which is that they’re hamstrung to make any significant changes (or they outright don’t want to). I still wouldn’t be interested in this season but I’d have a bit more respect for the FO
Who cares what you think. If you want someone to care about you think, you should state your where you live. Until you can your actual physical address, nobody cares.
Vince from Location Services, doesn’t care what you think, just cares where you live. Find Vince @ Realtor.com
I don’t care what Realtor.com thinks. Why is Realtor.com spamming this site for leads?
Thank you for the grammatically effective comment Vince. You’re absolutely right, before anyone posts their comments, we should all post where we live. This is extremely helpful.
I understand your frustration but what else can they do? They tried for Harper. Adam Jones is old and cannot move. Cargos numbers were Coors inflated and he’s old. They have to get younger. Duggar is young, this guy is young, MAC will have a couple months to keep the LF job or be released. They can only get young in a few places because all the older dudes have no trade clauses. They are healthy with a week to go before the opener and they have a great bullpen and good starting rotation. It’s going to take some time to shed the fat but I believe they’re headed in the right direction. Someone please call Bobby Evans and fire him again.
great bullpen and good starting rotation? what are you seeing?
Mark Melancon? looks pretty slim to me
The giants bullpen is stacked. Mel ancon is arguably the worst piece in the pen with Watson, dyson , Smith, gott, Bergen (who still hasn’t given up a run all spring), black standing out and some combo of beede, Stratton, Suarez etc on the list too. The bigger worry this spring will be losing a guy if you can’t protect them.
You probably think Rod Beck is the closer Mr Warren Spahn.
Your arguement is one bullpen guy? The pen is extremely good. And there are still trade chips there. They arent going to take the first deal. Theyre going to take the best deal. The “fair weatherness” is starting to show its face in the fan base.
I doubt Spahn is a Giants fan, so fair-weatheredness doesn’t apply in this case. He is, however, ignorant of the quality of the rest of the Giants’ bullpen. And the above post doesn’t even mention Reyes Moronta, who was also very good last year and has closer potential.
Let’s not allow facts get in the way of a good ol’ biased opinion.
Totally agree with you. You’re correct, my comment is rooted in general frustration. I recognize that at the end of the day, while we try to romanticize baseball, it’s still a business and they need to sell tickets. I suppose I would just respect our FO more if they could stop trying to sell this team as a contender. It’s frustrating listening to how we’re supposed to be excited about this product they’re going to run out in 2019.
Baby Talk,put your Diaper on because your leaking
“Only difference is, they’re a year older.”
How about healthier? So far they have been, and given the choice I’ll take a year older and healthy over last season.
“…this isn’t the “corner outfield priority” Giants fans were promised…”
Please. That is such a weak comment. They went after Harper but came up short. So who were they going to get? AJ Pollock was probably the next best guy, and did you really want to pay him what he got, and lose a draft choice? You seem to expect the FO to conjure up a young dynamic toolsy player out of whole cloth.
12 pitchers, 4 utility, 1 backup catcher, 5 regular infielders and 3 “true” outfielders. Hanson, Joe and Solarte can play left. Otherwise, Pablo is gone. Pablo or Maybin look to be out, I’d rather they keep Pablo and Boston still paying most of that salary. Ferguson had a small window to win a job but .111 ain’t going to get it. Maybe he works out elsewhere
Yeah maybin has been pretty disappointing this spring.
very disappointing. If Maybin makes the team, there is really no point so spring training.
Brad Miller opted out with LA in the past couple hours and he too plays if and of. Zaidi may try to sign him too. Can never have too much depth. He’d have a better chance at getting MLB time with the Giants as opposed to the Dodgers, they’re pretty stacked
Why sign Brad Miller?
A versatile player who has corner outfield experience, and has shown both power and good walk rates in the past. This screams Zaidi honestly. Giants dont need another lefty though.
Giants need bonds back. He’d come back and still lead team in HR and league in walks..Sad that his career got cut short. 65 hits to reach 3000, and he had a .1045 ops his last season. Lol
That would be so fun.
Dismal offence means many disappointed and deserving starters on the short end of low scoring games. What are they to do with Melanson; he doesn’t deserve a roster spot.
He’ll get hidden on the good ol’ injury list with some mystery strain or pull until the pen settles out over the first few weeks. Add a rehab stint in AAA to the end of that and they buy themselves a month to figure it out.
I’d rather they cut their losses now, eat the cash, and use the roster spot for one of the possible “no options” casualties.
My dad took me to my first Giants game at Seals stadium in 1958 when i was 12. 52 years later I reveled in their first WS championship in SF. The next 3 out of 5 years was baseball heaven.
The team (players, Bochy, coaches, upper management) is going to do the best they can with what they end up with opening day. Life is good. It’s baseball. I’ve been to the mountain top.
Bump Pablo for this guy? no way. Sandoval looks healthy, had a good spring and Bochy loves him.
Pablo is declining, but I see Maybin as more likely to get bumped. Maybe Pablo should just let it go and then he can go enjoy the all-u-can-eat buffets as much as he wants.
Interesting trivia. Connor Joe was selected with the very first traded MLB draft pick. The Marlins traded their competitive balance pick for reliever Bryan Morris who had three very good years in the Marlins pen including being practically unhittable in the second half of 2014 after the trade.
Pablo, Breyvic Valera and joe are the only ones vying for an IF bench role that don’t have a minor league option. Pablo is a favorite and the Giants need every reason for people to buy tickets after this shabby offseason (see: Charles Johnson, Baer, Harper)
Michael Brantley was their RH bat they should of picked up this off season.
He’s a lefty. Also Hitters on short term deals don’t wanna build up their resume in pitcher friendly parks